First Battle of Bull Run

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First Battle of Bull Run, also known as Battle of First Manassas, (21 July 1861), the first major battle of the American Civil War (1861-65), fought at a small meandering stream and tributary of the Potomac River named Bull Run near Manassas in northern Virginia. It was a chaotic encounter fought by volunteers short of training and organization and haphazardly equipped. It ended in victory for the Confederates under General Pierre Beauregard. The defeat shocked the Union into mobilizing resources for a long war.

Succumbing to the popular clamor for decisive action, President Abraham Lincoln ordered General Irvin McDowell to lead an army from Washington, D.C., toward the Confederate capital, Richmond. Beauregard blocked their path at the Manassas rail junction 25 miles (40 km) from Washington, drawing up his army behind Bull Run. He was reinforced with troops, under General Joseph E. Johnston, that had been rushed by train from the Shenandoah Valley.

Confederate soldiers killed during the First Battle of Bull Run, July 1861.Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

The weather was hot. Unfit Union soldiers arrived at Bull Run exhausted by the march from Washington. Nonetheless, the battle opened to their advantage. McDowell achieved surprise by sending most of his troops around the left of the Confederate line, crossing the river unopposed. The Southerners fought a desperate defensive action; General Thomas Jackson was nicknamed "Stonewall" for holding his Virginian infantry firm (at the Fight for Henry Hill) in the face of the Union onslaught.

In the afternoon, the arrival of fresh Confederate troops at Manassas demoralized weary Union soldiers. As they wavered, the Southerners raised the blood-chilling rebel yell and drove them back across the river. Once they had begun to run, nothing would stop the panicking Union troops. Journalists and congressmen, who had ridden out to observe the battle, found themselves caught up in a rout. Fortunately for the Union, and especially for the very vulnerable Washington, D.C., the Southerners were in no state to mount a pursuit or another attack. The day after the battle, Lincoln signed a bill to create an army of half a million men, enlisted for three years.

The Second Battle of Bull Run, a much larger affair, took place more than a year later on August 29–30, 1862, between a Confederate army of more than 56,000 men under General Robert E. Lee and a newly formed Federal force of 70,000 troops under Major General John Pope. It, too, resulted in a Confederate victory.